Dear Friends,
It is with some sadness and deep gratitude for the values we share and the work we have accomplished together that I announce my departure from my post as CEO at DuraSpace to serve as the Associate University Librarian for Technology Services at Arizona State University Library, effective June 25, 2018.
As DuraSpace CEO the organization had its strongest fiscal year ever in 2017. We have built a team of community and technology experts who will continue to successfully carry out the DuraSpace mission. When I came to DuraSpace in 2015, I was fortunate to be able to continue the work of my predecessor, Michele Kimpton, to build a robust membership program that currently enjoys a 94% retention rate. Relationships with the Samvera Project have been formalized and strengthened and, most recently, DuraSpace entered a partnership agreement with CASRAI. The DuraSpace hosted services business has also matured providing much needed archiving and preservation services to the community as well as additional support for our open source projects through revenues from hosted services.
In partnership with the Digital Public Library of America and Stanford University Library, we led the successful completion of the IMLS-funded Hydra-In-A-Box grant and the continued exploration of the HykuDirect service offering. I am committed to expanded engagement with international user communities and the broader scholarly ecosystem. This focus has cultivated new memberships and strategic partnerships. With staff support, DuraSpace has improved relationships with service providers and others in the global scholarly ecosystem. A focus on increased and different kinds of engagement ensures that community needs are heard and met, broadening fiscal and in-kind support for shared open source software development which in turn has amplified DuraSpace’s organizational ability to serve wide and diverse stakeholder communities.
Transparency and accountability in fiscal management have been significantly improved under my leadership including human resources functions, access to business experts and administrative processes, and business and financial management processes.
“DuraSpace is in the healthiest shape it’s ever been under Debra’s leadership,” said Tyler Walters, Board President of DuraSpace. “I know Board members are grateful for all her efforts and accomplishments. We wish her well in her new post at ASU.”
I am returning to academic librarianship to work more closely with the creators and users of repository and research outputs and to help preserve content and make it more easily accessible for scholars of every stripe. “ASU is a comprehensive public research university, measured not by whom it excludes, but by whom it includes and how they succeed.” As an undergraduate I benefitted from that inclusive mission and now seek to give something back by working with colleagues to advance and support the learning, teaching, and research activities of the next generation of students and faculty. At ASU, I will have the opportunity to deepen my commitment to local and global activities that foster inclusivity in the scholarly ecosystem.
It has been a great privilege and pleasure to have served as CEO at DuraSpace as they have grown in staff, membership, and funding, broadened their scope, and extended the community’s collective reach. I am so proud of all we have accomplished and I look forward to continuing to support its mission as a community member.
The DuraSpace Board of Directors is discussing recruitment planning and will announce an interim leadership plan by June 1.(likely more detail here).
With many thanks for your support and participation.
Warm regards,
Debra Hanken Kurtz
CEO
2018 Membership Campaign (please update Val)
We offiicially launched our 2018-19 Membership Campaign earlier this month. Most of our current members should have received renewal notices last week and invoices will be sent out shortly. If it is at all possible for your institution to increase your financial commitment this year, please contact Valorie Hollister <vhollister@duraspace.org>. Learn more about DuraSpace in the 2017-2018 Strategic Summary (link).
SERVICES (please update Heather)
DuraCloud Selected as a Featured Open Source Project for Mozilla Global Sprint
DuraSpace is excited to announce that its project, Open Sourcing DuraCloud: Beyond the License has been selected as a featured project for the Mozilla Foundation Global Sprint to be held May 10th - 11th, 2018. The Global Sprint is a collaborative event meant to “hack and build projects for a healthy internet.” The Sprint will allow people from many backgrounds -- students, journalists, librarians, educators, and anyone else interested in supporting the open internet -- to come together for two days and work to improve open projects that make the internet better, safer and healthier. See our blog post to learn more and sign up to participate.
ArchivesDirect, DSpaceDirect, and DuraCloud services from DuraSpace are built on solid open source software platforms and require very little effort to start up. DuraSpace staff experts work directly with service customers to provide personalized on-boarding processes and superb customer support. Our services can provide open access to institutional resources, preservation of treasured collections, and simplified data management tools. Contact Heather Greer Klein to learn more about any of the web services DuraSpace offers, and to learn about special discounts for new DuraCloud subscribers who are DuraSpace memebers at the Silver level and above.
DuraSpace-euroCRIS Interoperability Event
We’d like to invite you to the first DuraSpace-euroCRIS Interoperability Event with our Strategic Partner euroCRIS.
The DSpace and CRIS Systems one-day Workshop will focus on interoperability between DSpace repositories and CRIS systems iprior to the CRIS 2018 Conference in Umeå, Sweden - on Wednesday, June 13, 2018.
During the DSpace and CRIS systems workshop, DSpace users will have a great opportunity to meet to identify existing examples of integration between DSpace and CRIS systems and to discuss functionalities that DSpace could implement in the future in order to support workflows traditionally associated with Research Information Systems more effectively.
The agenda of the workshop we’ll be published soon, if you’re interested in participating please let us know using this form.
WHERE WE'LL BE THIS SPRING (UPDATE)
CASRAI-CA Reconnect18, Ottawa, Canada, May 23/24 - David Baker
Canadian Association of Research Administrators (CARA) Annual Conference, Ottawa, Canada, May 27-30 - David Baker
CASRAI-UK Reconnect18, Glasgow, UK, June 25/26 - David Baker
CASRAI-EU Reconnect18, Porto, Portugal, June 29 - David Baker, Michele Mennielli
Open Repositories Conference, June 4-7, Bozeman, Montana - David Wilcox, Tim Donohue, Michele Mennielli
VIVO Conference, June 6-8, Durham, NC - David Baker, Andrew Woods
EuroCRIS Conference, Umea, Sweden, June 13-16 - Michele Mennielli, Mike Conlon, David Baker
